RIP Nova? Android’s best home launcher is in big trouble

I’ve been using Nova Launcher on my Android phones and tablets for almost a decade. It is by far my favorite launcher thanks to its flexibility and deep customization options. But some recent moves by the company that bought Nova two years ago have put the app’s future in serious jeopardy.

Developer Kevin Barry released the first version of Nova Launcher in late 2014 and it was an instant hit among the still-thriving Android community. Nova uses the same sliding homepage setup as most Android navigation systems, including the “standard” home screens from Google and Samsung, but focuses on giving users as many options as possible.

With fast performance, frequent new feature introductions like compatibility with Google’s Discover news feed through a secondary program, and virtually endless ways to make your home screen look and work exactly the way you want, Nova is the launcher of choice stayed. for many of Android’s most avid fans.

But Barry couldn’t single-handedly keep up with all the features he wanted to add, not to mention supporting new versions of the operating system and hundreds of new phone designs each year. He quickly expanded his development team and turned Nova into a thriving company through the Nova Prime upgrade, a one-time $5 add-on that provides even more options and advanced features. The upgrade has been downloaded more than five million times as of today.

Barry sold the Nova app, and essentially his own job and those of his colleagues, to Branch Metrics in 2022. As Ars Technica reports, Branch is an analytics company that helps business clients create and track links to their sites, apps, and other points of entry. Branch now owns the copyright for Nova Launcher, according to the app’s own About page.

Nova/branch

Nova/branch

Nova/branch

Last week, the official Nova Launcher Twitter account said that in a round of company-wide layoffs, Branch has eliminated the jobs of more than ten people who work at Nova. A now-unemployed community manager dug deeper into Discord. Kevin Barry is now once again the only person actively developing Nova, ten years after he started… but he’s doing it for someone else.

Regular users have noticed a decline in Nova’s usual, unparalleled quality over the past year. Bugs and performance issues that were typically resolved in a few weeks linger for months or longer, and substantive updates (Nova is now in its eighth major release) come more slowly. Recent reviews on the Google Play Store indicate that major bugs such as disappearing icons, home screen freezes, and failed searches have become commonplace.

With resources and manpower cut to the bone by Branch after years of expanding scope, Barry must now hold Nova Launcher on his shoulders like a software developer Atlas.

I still use Nova on my phone, despite a lack of support for the foldable form factor and, yes, the bugs I too have been encountering more often lately. It’s still the best and most flexible option I’ve tried, including Samsung’s foldable OneUI launcher. But I can’t say I’m excited about the future of this launcher in the hands of its current owner. I hope another Android developer, inspired by Nova and other launchers developed with so much community input, can fill his shoes.

Or perhaps Kevin Barry can leave Nova to remain under Branch’s management and start over with a new program. Such things are known to happen.